1. TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an eyewear retainer device attachable to the temples of eyeglasses, sun glasses or the like for retaining the eyewear around the neck of an individual and/or for preventing such eyewear from inadvertently falling off when being worn by the individual.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED PRIOR ART
Many individuals who wear either eyeglasses, sun glasses or other eyewear choose to use some type of retainer device of the type attachable to the temples of the eyewear for suspending the eyewear around the individual's neck when not in use, or for retaining the eyewear on the nose of the individuals when in use, or simply as a fashion accessory.
FIG. 1 of the attached drawings illustrates a conventional prior art tubular-type eyewear retainer. This retainer has a tube of double wall construction which is open at each end to accommodate the temples of the eyeglasses. Two short sections of surgical tubing are captured between the double layers of the tube and are positioned at the open ends of the tube for gripping eyeglass temples inserted into the open ends. The double walled tube is formed of two initially separate pieces of cotton sleeve material which are each infolded to capture the sections of surgical tubing between the resultant double walls of the tube halves. After a keeper ring is utilized to capture and to adjustably secure the sleeve halves together, the ends of the sleeve halves are brought together and joined by an external patch which is sewn to each of the tube halves. The tubular eyeglass retainer device of FIG. 1 typifies the known constructions which rely on an external joint, such as the sewn-on patch of FIG. 1, to join the ends of the tubes together. The external patch is, in my view, somewhat unsightly and prevents the keeper from being removed and replaced.